Dispenser containers



April 1959' E. R. CREBBS I 2,884,162

DISPENSER CONTAINERS Filed May 3. 1954 lll'l mmumu|lllllllllllmll"mill"g United States Patent() DISPENSER CONTAINERS Earl R. Crebbs, Atherton, Calif. Application May 3, 1954, Serial No. 427,270

1 Claim. (Cl. 221-46) My invention relates to dispenser'containers and more particularly to a wall container adapted to be filled and fixed to the wall of the room being serviced, and then thereafter maintains a continuous supply of the dispensable paper product in the containers. -Most of the dispensable paper products are stacked'so that the removal of the top item brings to the top a, tab or portion that can be manually grasped for removal of the next item. Such stacking usually requires machine packing and it is therefore customary for such dispensable paper items to be packed at the source in a dispenser, usually made of cardboard, that can quickly be inserted in the wall container when renewal of the paper product supply is desired. The wall containers are usually open at the top for easy insertion of the dispenser. It is also customary for the servicing organization to install the containers on the wall of the wash rooms free of charge when the service is started.

This type of paper product service is subject to a number of abuses. Too often the paper products are stolen, not one by one, but by removal of the entire cardboard dispenser from the wall container, usually when well filled. Locks with satisfactory keys are too expensive to be made a part of the wall container. It is also to be noted that it is necessary to fix the wall container to the wall, because if it is not so fixed, the container itself may be stolen. Consequently, even though the container represents a substantial capital investment by the servicing party, it seldom pays the servicing organization to remove the container, once installed. This fact leads to another and even more important problem, namely, the containers of one servicing party can be, and many times are, refilled by a competing service, usually with the approval of the Wash room owner, as the competing service often undercuts the initial servicing organization in price, usually by providing an inferior product. When top opening wall containers are used it is not necessary that the competing product exactly fit the wall container, thereby permitting the competing dispenser to be inserted provided only that it is smaller than the original dispenser for whichthe wall container was designed, and that the dispensing openings roughly register.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a wall mounted container for a dispenser of paper products which can be readily refilled with the proper dispenser; in which the dispenser can be only removed with difficulty until empty or nearly empty; and which can only a dispenser deformed around a 2 be satisfactorily refilled with a dispenser which has a thickness and a resilient characteristic closely approaching the dispenser for which the wall container was originally designed.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a combination of a refillable wall container and a dispenser of paper products that can be readily inserted in the wall container, but not readily removable there- 'from until empty or nearly so. 10

an oblong plastic or metal container which can be af- In brief, the present invention in one form includes fixed to a wall. It has a predetermined length, width and thickness, is closed at the top and sides but open at the bottom. It also has a front dispensing opening through which paper articlesfolded paper towels for example-can be pulled from a dispenser positioned within the container. This dispenser is preferably made of resilient material such as cardboard and is dimensioned to relatively closely fit the interior of the Wall container. When the dispenser is full, the dispenser maintains its original shape due to the spring press of the folded paper articles filling the dispenser.

Iustabove the open bottom of the dispenser on either the front or back wall, preferably the rear, at least one, and preferably two, spaced projections extend inwardly into the interior of the container, each projection preferably having a fiat top and a downwardly slanting forward -wall so that a full dispenser can be forced upwardly into the container by deforming around the projection until the bottom of the dispenser snaps over the top of the projection on which it rests thereafter. After insertion, it is dilficult for a casual visitor to remove the dispenser from the container, particularly when still filled with a substantial portion of the articles to be dispensed, but the servicing party can, with the aid of the proper tools, readily remove an empty dispenser, so that a new and fresh dispenser can be inserted.

My invention can be more readily understood by reference to the appended drawings, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view looking upwardly and from one side of one preferred form of dispenser container and dispenser, installed therein, embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view looking upwardly of the container of Figure l as attached to a wall, with a dispenser ready for insertion into the container.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of a projection as it is being inserted into the container.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken at right angles to the view of Figure 3, as indicated by the line 4-4 in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of the container of Figure 1 taken as indicated by the line 5-5 in Figure 1, with the dispenser in final position.

Referring first to Figure l, a dispenser container 1 is formed preferably from sheet metal or rigid plastic having fiat parallel front and rear walls 2 and 3, respectively, flat parallel side walls 5 and 6, respectively, and a closed top 7 preferably outwardly and downwardly slanting to prevent cigarettes from being placed thereon. The front wall 2 is provided with a front wall container opening 8 and the rear wall 3 is provided with any convenient means (not shown) for fastening the container 1 to a vertical wall 10 (Figure 2).

At the bottom of the container 1 slightly above the bottom opening 11 thereof, one wall 2 or 3, but preferably the rear wall 3, is provided with spaced projections 12. These projections 12 are preferably bumped inwardly from rear wall 3 and extend into the interior 14 of the container and are shaped to have a flat top portion 15 and an upwardly sloping bottom portion 16, as

best shown in Figures 3 and 4. In case the container 1 is formed of plastic, each projection 12 can be an integral head of the same general shape. It is preferred that the projections 12 extend inwardly about 1 the thickness of the container to provide a firm support against gavity.

A dispenser 20 of paper towels, for example as shown in Figure 2, is provided, this dispenser 20 being preferably formed from cardboard and filled with paper towels preferably folded to pull out a tab 21 for the next towel when the top towel is pulled out of the dispenser as indicated in Figure 1. These towels are dispensed through a front wall dispenser opening 22 preferably registerable with front wall container opening 8.

Dispenser 20 is preferably dimensioned to relatively tightly fit into the inside of the dispenser container 1 with the vertical dimension such that when the dispenser is fully inserted, the bottom of the dispenser will rest firmly on the projections 12 but will in that position refuse to be pushed up fur-ther to any significant distance.

To insert a full dispenser 20 in the dispenser container 1 the dispenser 20 can be taken in both hands H and compressed on each side at points spaced in accordance with the spacing of the container projections 12, as shown in Figure 2. The top of the dispenser 20 is then inserted in the bottom opening 11 of the container 1 so that the back wall 23 of the dispenser rides up and over the projections 12 on the rear wall 3 of the container 1, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The dispenser 20 is then forced further upwardly, the rear wall of the dispenser 20 progressively deforming around the projections 12 until the bottom 24 of the dispenser snaps over the top of the projections 12 to rest thereon thereafter, as shown in Figure 5. The dispensing openings 22 and 8 then register as shown in Figure 1 and the articles in the dispenser are removed through both openings by the use of tabs 21.

Several points of interest should be noted. When the dispenser is full or even partly full, the natural expansion tendency of the folded paper articles makes the removal of the dispenser from the container by unauthorized persons suprisingly difficult, particularly when only a short time is available. This is especially true when the dispenser fits the container so closely it cannot be lifted or rocked in the container. On the other hand, particularly with proper tools, the empty dispenser can be readily removed by the servicing party for the insertion of a full dispenser. If the empty dispenser is torn, no harm is done as it is discarded anyway.

It is further to be noted that because are solid, with the insertion resiliency residing solely in the projections 5 the dispenser, removal of a dispenser is far more difi'icult than if the projections were to be spring mounted to move rearwardly when the dispenser is inserted. With the solid projections of the present invention, no extra parts are required and fabrication is simple.

The innermost edge of the projections 12 can be made sharp enough to dig into the cardboard rear wall of the dispenser, thereby greatly increasing resistance in downward motion of the dispenser. If such digging-in should occur during the removal of an empty dispenser the dispenser might be torn during such authorized removal, but this would be of no moment as the empty dispenser is discarded anyway.

While in order to comply with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown, but that the means and construction herein disclosed comprises a preferred form of putting the invention into effect, and. the invention is therefore claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A dispenser container comprising: a box-like rigid hollow body of sheet metal having a front wall provided with a dispensing opening, a rear wall, parallel side walls, a closed top, and an open bottom adapted to have inserted therethrough a box-like replaceable cardboard dispenser having a horizontal outline substantially the same as that of the interior of said body and containing interleaved sheet material articles that are removable in succession through an opening in the dispenser alignable with said front wall opening; and laterally spaced two dispenser supporting means extending inwardly from said rear wall adjacent but spaced from the sides thereof and immediately above said open bottom, each of said means being formed by bumped-out portions of said rear wall which provide substantially horizontal dispenser supporting surfaces defined by upper relatively sharp edges of said portions, said edges being adapted to contact and support the dispenser beneath the bottom and adjacent the bottom rear corners thereof, and said portions forming smooth walls that are inclined downwardly and rearwardly from said edges and blend into said rear wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 475,904 Great Britain Nov. 29, 1937 497,293 Great Britain Dec. 16, 1938 533,084 Great Britain Feb. 6, 1941 

